Superintendent

I am excited and deeply honored to serve as your new superintendent! For those of you who may not know my background, I have been an educator for 36 years beginning with ten years as a K-12 music teacher in Wisconsin, Montana, and Illinois. My family and I moved to Appleton from Chicago in 1995 and our sons both experienced an outstanding education here in the Appleton Area School District (AASD).

During my 22 years in the AASD, I have served as assistant principal at Wilson Middle School, next as principal at Stephen Foster Elementary Charter School, and most recently as an assistant superintendent for the West Cluster. All of these experiences have been instrumental in shaping the leader that I am today.

Building trust through actions that consistently show care and respect for others, integrity, and competence is at the heart of my leadership philosophy. Building trust takes time – time spent making connections, listening, collaborating, and planning together. With the circle of trust in place, I believe that we will be able to accomplish our district priorities – Safe, Healthy, and Welcoming School Environment; Effective Instructional Practices; and Standards-Based Guaranteed and viable curriculum.

High levels of relational trust are found in schools and districts where leaders exhibit integrity, competence in their roles, personal regard and respect for others. Trust can be built, trust can be sustained, and if it is broken, thankfully, trust can also be rebuilt, over time with a strong commitment to change for the better. Our school communities and school culture is where we need to start to ensure that we are inclusive and responsive to each individual student and their unique cultural backgrounds and needs.

This is where we build connections and understanding - understanding between our students and their families – understanding that our diversity is indeed our strength and that our strong public schools are a place – sometimes the only place - where diverse opinions and backgrounds can be celebrated in a safe, respectful environment.

We recommit ourselves every day to a welcoming culture for ALL – by building understanding and acceptance of differences between and among our students. I believe that we have the moral imperative to move forward in becoming a more culturally responsive organization – for every child every day – in every classroom every day, in every school every day – across this district. We will do this by working together, as a team, within a culture of trust.

Sincerely,
Judy Baseman
Appleton Area School District Superintendent

Enjoy Notes from the Orchard below, a monthly newsletter from the Superintendent